M1730 BIOS fix demand (to fix video card failing issues)

Hi all!
An idea is cooking on the m1730 thread regarding video card temperature fluctuation problem on all m1730 machines due to incorrect fans control by the bios.
This problem is the direct result of so many failed 8700,8800 and 9800 video cards.
It is a known problem, there's even a vote (and a nice description of the problem) for that fix to be released.

The idea is to try and contact Dell via various channels (fb Blackhawk Team, Dell representatives forum members) and demand a new and improved m1730 bios that would fix that.

In order for that to be efficient i need to know how many people are behind this thing. (Dell won't move a finger unless there's a substantial group of people involved).

Right now i am going over the pages of the official m1730 thread, and PMing users to see if there's even an interest.

I am adding a poll so it's easier to see how many people are interested. (please do not vote for the second option, it's only interesting to see how many people DO want it, and since the poll has to contain at least two options i had to add the second one)

The purpose of this thread is to centralize information and move this thing forward.


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Note from MOD:

Looks like Dell has released System BIOS A11 to address the GPU thermal table.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=417399

-BB
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In response to your PM: I am willing to participate out of concern and interest in anything that could prevent future damage to my M1730. I haven't been affected by any temperature or GPU hardware issues yet, however, so I don't currently feel strongly about this issue.

 

I'm in. A BIOS update would be most welcome.

 

i'm in !!!!!!!!

 

I am in..
The temperature issue had me lose the confidence in the laptop so would definitely like it to be fixed for good

Thanks for bringing this up

 

I´m in, is the fans only controlled by the bios? I was looking into nibitor and I can set the fan speed there at different temps. However I haven´t tried to flash it yet with those fan settings but I think I will try and see if it helps any.

I think the fan speed should be controlled by the video bios?

 

I'm in.

I want to keep my rig alive and kickin' as long as possible. I hope this will solve the issue.

 

possibly and did you already try the lower GPU voltage you were sugesting in the m1730 thread?
would be great if we could edit the GPU BIOS ourselves for this problem

 

Well I haven't spected any GPU issues by the way, but I agree with the BIOS update, since lot of people had to replace them. I would be great a CPU fan control also, and voltages adjust. I guess it was 1,5v on 3,4 ghz what is just crazy...I'm reaching 90 degrees even at 1,32v. But I think it's time to repaste the CPU with some AS5.
As I said it could be only a good thing a new BIOS revision so you can count on me.
Cheers

 

Thanks for PMing me, I'm in

 

I'm in too. My laptop died once due to GPU failure.

 

rather demand a replacement like an alienware m17x-r2. i did and works fine.
screw the bios, let them pay for your replacement while they still fail to fix this.

 

Yes makes sense. I just got this laptop again after having trying a couple of them back in 2008 but returning them. From what I have seen so far my temps have been fluctuating between the high 60s and mid 70s.

Is it possible to get RivaTuner to control the GPU fan speed?
I remember using this on a desktop computer a long time ago but have never tried it on a laptop.

 

no third party program can control all three m1730 fans. only solution (for non overclockable cpus) is a bios fix.
Thanks for all your replies guys! I will start contacting Dell soon.

 

Thanks for the PM,
I'm in, would be happy to have the fans work right at last

 

NVIDIA's faulty chips have hit across the board - Dell, HP, Lenovo, Apple. Having the fans cool the graphics cards better will only put a possible delay on the chip failure. The BIOS update will not be enough, you should push for new parts.

 

I've been looking for a thread like this for a while, my M1730 idles at approx 70 C. I recently opened it up and cleaned out any dust that was in there, but nothing has changed. Unfortunately this is a replacement system for an older XPS Gen 2 that died on me, so my warranty is up and cannot be renewed... if a BIOS update is all it takes to keep this running... I'm In!

 

Yes I undervolted my GPU´s, it did lower temps with around 2 degrees ceslsius, I was hoping for more. I will try to adjust the fan speeds and at what degrees they turn on the fans. I saw I could set say 70 degrees celsius and fan speed at 100% in nibitor. I´ll post results later on.

 

Im in!!! ONE TIME DELLLL!!

 

i am pretty sure that the bios is controlling the fans, not the video card itself, so i doubt that changing it in nibitor will help.

Worth a try though

 

2 of me and my gf's M1730 died last month within 2 days. I was wondering and confused that how 2 laptops can die suddenly within 2 days.
I had even started a thread on that.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/478816-help-88m-sli-2.html
Post 1 and Post 16

 

Not sure how the hardware in the M1730 works, but on the desktop I built the ATI/AMD Radeon 5870 GPU's BIOS controls the GPU fan throttling according to a temperature-based curve. You can edit the BIOS on some ATI/AMD GPUs to change the fan response curve, but it's easier to use an app like MSI Afterburner to software control the fans using a user-defined response curve.

Has anyone tried MSI Afterburner on an M1730?

 

i dont think that would work on a dell laptop.

is there any way to trick the bios into turning the gpu fans on all the way, all the time?

because then you could just use some hardware controllers, eh?

 

Never had an issue with my GPUs for a year now but I guess a good BIOS fix does it for others. Supported.

EDIT: I got MSI's hardware burner downloaded will try if it works.

 

I am also in, let there be finally a fix!! No one e-mailed me yet though.

 

update :
emailed a Dell representative ( DELLChrisM) to direct his attention to this thread.
Let's hope he will help us out.

 

To the Representative,
would be really nice if do something about fans please, simply to restore me faith in Dell an consider buying your products again.

have a nice day,

 

Excellent, I couldn't say it better.

 

No luck with nibitor, the fans is controlled by the system bios no the video bios.

 

Hmm, what about something like SpeedFan then?

 

Update:
got an answer from Dell's rep :

"I have sent this to the Laptop Liaison. Since the 3 year mark on this model is close (September), I doubt that there are any engineers looking at it. The last driver update was in Dec/2009."

Trying to contact blackhawk team now.

 

Booooooooooooohoooooo, weak !!
well if they don't care they can give me an M17x, because i'll never run out of warranty (thing is, the M17x is a problem child too ...)

 

Done...

 

Forgive me for asking, but will Dell not just say 'it's an old piece of hardware now, if your having problems you should really thinking of buying a new laptop as times move on'
I have a M1330 and would like to know it's 'safe' but I'm just looking at the reality of the situation.

 

Thanks mate! And thanks for the link in your signature, i used it to demonstrate to that dell rep that it's not an isolated issue.

that's what Dell are trying to say actually.. but i think that it's not fair to the owners! the m1730 is still an excellent and powerful machine and just because dell are releasing new models every 6 months does not mean that they should stop supporting older models.

 

Is there no governing body that can make dell assume the position?
When you look at the fact of you having a broken laptop potentially will make them better off...
Who do they answer to?

 

technically they are within their rights - they ARE servicing laptops that are under warranty and it's not that this issue is stopping people from using the machines.
it's a potential problem that dell are required to take care of in case it occurs.
So all we can do is ask politely

 

With 2 years warranty left I'm comfortable leaning backward. It's still Dell's problem to solve when my rig goes to the eternal hunting grounds.

 

I think that asking Dell to Create a BIOS Flash Is a Reasonable request. I'm Not Sure what Time and cost this involves to do it?
Not like were asking for Motherboard replacements, Just Have the fans Run maintain a More Constant GPU Tempeture.

After all this was a $3.500 Flagship Model, I would Hope would think they would want to reach a bit further than say a mid or entry Inspiron model.
I like this machine alot and i want to keep it for some years I even have been considering an M17 R2 also and I would like to know that it will be supported in 2.5 years from now or kicked under the rug if that has issues?

Well i hope they can do something for us..

 

^ Completely agree. We're not asking for new parts.
Come to mention it I've had my gpu get hot enough to force artifacting and shut down the computer, but can never really recall a lot of noise eminating from the fans. The laptop is always fairly quiet.
At this point I don't give a damn about the noise if there is a chance that I can get better cooling via higher fan usage.
My warranty is up and the 8700GT SLI cards put out a lot of heat, bring it on.

 

Team blackhawk's response:

 

Well at least Sony has addressed this issue.

Maybe Dell needs to step up to the plate and take care of this. These sound like the same Nvidia chips.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/407410-sony-comes-clean-faulty-nvidia-chips.html


And if all else fails:

http://www.addictivetips.com/computer-tips/fix-your-graphics-card-by-baking-in-oven/

 

Well the 8XXX series GPUs have been long known to have defects in many brand laptops.
That's not what were after, Even if the chips were a 260, 280m ETC the cooling is way inefficient for a laptop that has the ability to cool much better. In the case of the 8X series that have high failure rates they would stay cool and stable rather than fluctuating rapidly increasing the failer rate even more, I could OC them while X9000 is OC with fans running max ed and they barley go over 62c With Loud fans of coarse that's ok But not for Browsing the boards they should run medium rather than be off until 75c.

I would just like to have my laptop and be able to walk away or fall asleep with it on knowing that the bios can handle the proper cooling Like my Asus or Toshiba W/O worrying i sometimes don't reboot for weeks to clean it otherwise my XPS Never gets left on overnight or unattended for hours i shut it down let it cool then in the lappy sack Been Great otherwise



Yes that Oven trick works well for the already dead buy just a Temporary fix at most..

 

That's Cool Thanks, Maybe we Have some Hope

 

So, the situation does not look good.
Below is my conversation with DellChrisM :

Me :

Me :

 

It was too good to be true.

The M1730 isn't commercial interesting for them anymore. They even didn't respond one year ago at Dell's IdeaStorm when we voted for a new BIOS. It's a shame Dell looks to us like that.

One thing I've learned from this all; I never spend €3800,- for a gaming laptop by Dell anymore.

Can you imagine; I bought my rig April 2008 and last BIOS update was January 2009. In less then 1 year my notebook-investment was written-off by Dell and they quited technical development.

 

is there anyway to ask em were is the 100% fan program in all extreme m1730's were it makes fans come on 100% speed continously when set Dells OC tool to 3.2 or 3.4Ghz....dont get it...would be easy to give this to all non-extreme cpu m1730 owners as a option but without the oc tool, would be good compromise.

 

It's not a software that makes the fans rotate all the time with an extreme cpu.
The reason they rotate is due to the cpu temperature going up since it's overclocked.

Which leads me to the next question - i understand there's a method now to overclock non extreme CPUs.
To those who already did - doesn't it make the fans turn all constantly ? That would solve the problem to non extreme cpu owners.

 

No, the X9000 when overclocked to 3.2 - 3.4Ghz will have all 3 fans run at constant max RPM speeds regardless of core temperature. i.e In short, whether hot or cool or running at 70*C maxed or 45*C idling, or whatever the temperature may be, the 3 fans will run at the same 100% RPM. It's the programming of the BIOS Dell made it so.

Until someone creates a software that controls all the 3 fans fully, CPU and GPU, or a BIOS update/third paty hack, the X9000 is the only, but cost-spending solution, but that's not what this thread is asking for. Spend $350+ on eBay to fix an issue? All it takes is a simple BIOS update to fix or enable that. But they refused; or at least.

 

hey, i totally agree, i am just less and less enthusiastic about them assuming responsibility and fixing it.